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Tuesday, November 15, 2016

711. Post-election: Back to the writing desk

Here in the U.S., we’ve had a tumultuous week following a difficult election. The final result of our presidential election has sent many reeling and many celebrating. For me, the week with its weird combination of predictions and exultations was sobering and as possessive of attention as a strong vacuum.

In the midst of all the inner and online clamor, I read a social media post offered by artist and author Makoto Fujimura that struck me: "No matter what your reaction to this historic election, our response should be to cultivate the good, true and the beautiful.”

Yes to this, I thought.

Those transcendentals fit with what I have had in the margin of this blog for a long while: “Aiming at the intersections of thought, faith, imagination, and beauty in everyday life.” I'm recommiting to my pre-workday writing desk – a place where I've been absent too often for too long because I’ve been “too tired” or “too busy” – to attend to the entries on this blog that are yet to be posted and the pages of a new book* yet to be fully written.

All that is good, true, and beautiful surrounds us, waiting quietly to fill inner space and then be shared. God be praised.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you might do to cultivate the good, the true, and the beautiful in coming months.

~~~

*If you’re interested in learning a bit about the new book, I invite you to read the [monthly] email I send out to readers who ask to receive it.

Comments

711. Post-election: Back to the writing desk

Here in the U.S., we’ve had a tumultuous week following a difficult election. The final result of our presidential election has sent many reeling and many celebrating. For me, the week with its weird combination of predictions and exultations was sobering and as possessive of attention as a strong vacuum.

In the midst of all the inner and online clamor, I read a social media post offered by artist and author Makoto Fujimura that struck me: "No matter what your reaction to this historic election, our response should be to cultivate the good, true and the beautiful.”

Yes to this, I thought.

Those transcendentals fit with what I have had in the margin of this blog for a long while: “Aiming at the intersections of thought, faith, imagination, and beauty in everyday life.” I'm recommiting to my pre-workday writing desk – a place where I've been absent too often for too long because I’ve been “too tired” or “too busy” – to attend to the entries on this blog that are yet to be posted and the pages of a new book* yet to be fully written.

All that is good, true, and beautiful surrounds us, waiting quietly to fill inner space and then be shared. God be praised.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you might do to cultivate the good, the true, and the beautiful in coming months.

~~~

*If you’re interested in learning a bit about the new book, I invite you to read the [monthly] email I send out to readers who ask to receive it.

“Far from my high school daydreams about the future, I am on a search for daily meaning as well as for daily bread, for living rather than dying. I want to cast my net on the side of astonishment.... I want to find God at work in me and through me. I want livelihood.

Livelihood: the word gathers up and bundles together the simultaneous longings for meaning, satisfaction, and provision. In the fullest sense of the word, livelihood means the way of one’s life; it means the sustenance to make that way possible; it means both body and soul are fully alive thanks to what has been earned or received by grace. On one level we make our livelihood; on another level we keep our eyes open and find it.”

–Nancy J. Nordenson, Finding Livelihood: A Progress of Work and Leisure (Kalos Press)

By day I'm a medical writer. After hours I do another kind of work. Creative writing, spiritual writing, essaying. This blog arises from those after hours. I write about work/vocation, meaning, hope, imagination, faith, science, creativity/writing, books, and anything else I feel the impulse to write about. I hope these short posts provide camaraderie for your own creative and spiritual life.